Abba is a form of ab, meaning "father" in many

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...

. It is used as a given name, but was also used as a title or honorific for religious scholars or leaders. (The word

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

has the same root.)

Persons with the given name Abba, or who are known by that title

Jewish/Babylonian/Palestinian religious scholars

* Abba of Acre (3rd century), Jewish religious scholar *

Abba Arika Abba Arikha (175–247 CE; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ; born: ''Rav Abba bar Aybo'', ), commonly known as Rav (), was a Jewish amora of the 3rd century. He was born and lived in Kafri, Asoristan, in the Sasanian Empire. Abba Arikha establi ...

(175-247), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar * Abba bar Abba (2nd-3rd century), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar * Abba bar Zabdai (3rd century), Jewish/Palestinian religious scholar *''Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama'' (270-350), Jewish/Babylonian religious scholar known in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

Rava Rava may refer to: Biographical * Bishnu Prasad Rabha, multifaceted artist and revolutionary singer of Assam * Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama (born 280), a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, always known by the honorific name ''Raba,'' ''Rava, ...

* Abba Mordechai Berman (1919-2005), Polish Jewish rabbi and religious scholar *

Abba Hilkiah Abba Hilkiah (or Abba Hilkiahu; he, אבא חלקיה, ''Abba helkia'') was a ''tannaic'' sage, and a grandson of Honi HaMe'agel. The Talmud cites him as exceptionally scrupulous in his work and behavior. Just like his well-known grandfather, wh ...

(1st century), Jewish

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

sage * Abba Jose ben Hanan (1st century), Jewish sage and tanna * Abba Mari (13th-14th century), French/Jewish rabbi * Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli (c. 1194-1256), a French/Jewish scholar and translator of Arabic texts * Raba (Rabbah) Bar Jeremiah (Also called "Abba"), a Jewish Talmudist

Horse names of Jimma rulers

* Abba Bok'a (died 1862), a ruler of the

Kingdom of Jimma The Kingdom of Jimma ( om, Mootummaa Jimmaa) was an Oromo kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It shared its western border with Limmu-Ennarea, its eastern border with the Sidamo Kingdom of Janjero, and was ...

in what is today southwestern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

* Abba Gomol, ruler of the

1862-78; son of Abba Bok'a *

Abba Jifar I ''Moti'' Abba Jifar I (r. 1830–1855) was the first king of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma. Reign Abba Jifar was the son of Abba Magal, who was a leader of the Diggo Oromo. He built upon the political and military base his father had provided ...

(ruled 1830 - c. 1855) and

Abba Jifar II ''Moti'' Abba Jifar II ( om, Mootii Abbaa Jifaar; 1861 – 1932) was King of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma (r. 1878–1932). Reign Abba Jifar II was king of Jimma, and the son of Abba Gomol and Queen Gumiti. He had several wives: Queen Limmiti ...

(ruled 1878-1932), kings of the

* Abba Jofir, Ethiopian aristocrat briefly (1932) king of the

* Abba Magal (c. 1800), Oromo leader, father of Abba Jifar I, founder of the

Others

* Abba (count), a Frisian count *

Abba Thulle Abba Thulle was the ibedul, of Koror Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island (also ''Oreor Island''). It is Palau’s most popul ...

, ibedul of Koror *

Abba Ahimeir Abba Ahimeir ( he, אב"א אחימאיר, russian: Аба Шойл Гайсинович; 2 November 1897 – 6 June 1962) was a Russian-born Jewish journalist, historian, and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, ...

(1897-1962), Russian Jewish journalist, historian, and Zionist *

Abba Eban Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; he, אבא אבן ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. During his career, he served as For ...

(1915–2002), Israeli diplomat and politician, and President of the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...

* Abba Gerasimus (5th century), Lycian Christian monk and abbot revered as a saint *

Abba Gindin Abraham "Abba" Gindin ( he, אברהם "אבא" גינדין; born 24 December 1945 in Helsinki, Finland) is a former Israeli professional football player. Early life Gindin was born and raised in Finland and grew up playing ice hockey and footb ...

(b. 1946), Finnish/Israeli ice hockey player *

Abba Habib Abba Muhammed Habib was a Nigerian politician who was general secretary of the Northern People's Congress and later became a regional minister for Trade in the First Republic. He was a Shuwa Arab from Dikwa. He was a major political figure w ...

, Nigerian politician * Abbot "Abbie" Hoffman, whose Hebrew name was Abba * Abba Hushi (1898-1969), Israeli politician * Abba Kovner (1918-1987), Lithuanian Jewish/Israeli poet, writer, and partisan leader *

Abba Kyari Abba Kyari (23 September 1952 – 17 April 2020) was a Nigerian lawyer who served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria from August 2015 to April 2020. Early life Kyari was born on 23 September 1952, to a Shuwa Arab family f ...

(1938-2020), Nigerian military officer, governor, and business leader * Abba P. Lerner (1903–1982), American economist *

Abba Musa Rimi Abba Musa Rimi CON (born 28 February 1940) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Nigeria in October 1979 during the Nigerian Second Republic, becoming acting governor when the Governor Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa ...

(b. 1940), Nigerian politician, governor of

Kaduna State Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

* Abba Hillel Silver (1893–1963), U.S. Rabbi and Zionist leader *

Abba Goold Woolson Abba Goold Woolson (, Goold; April 30, 1838 – February 6, 1921) was a 19th-century American teacher, author, and poet from Maine. Woolson published several volumes, including: ''Women in American Society'' (1873); ''Dress Reform'' (1874); ''B ...

(1838-1921), American writer *

Abba Wada ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

, Nigerian business tycoon, and hero

Persons with the given name Abba, or who are known by that title

Jewish/Babylonian/Palestinian religious scholars

Horse names of Jimma rulers

Others

See also